May new dwelling consents down 18% year-on-year

Statistics NZ says there were 5856 fewer new homes consented in the May year versus the previous 12 months

Property / news

Statistics NZ says there were 5856 fewer new homes consented in the May year versus the previous 12 months

3rd Jul 23, 11:55am by Greg Ninness

Although there was a jump in the number of new homes consented in May compared to April, numbers remain well down from where they were a year ago.

According to Statistics NZ, 3725 new dwellings were consented in May this year, up 35% compared to April.

However April's consent numbers were unusually low, and May's consent numbers were down 17.7% compared to May last year.

In the 12 months to the end of May 2023, 45,159 new dwellings were consented, down 11.5% (-5856) compared to the previous 12 months.

Multi-unit properties such as townhouses and home units remain the most popular type of new dwelling, with 19,032 consented in the 12 months to May 2023. They're followed by 18,734 stand alone houses, 4164 apartments and 3229 retirement village units.

The total value of new dwelling work consented is also on the slide, declining by $932 million (-4.7%) in the year to May, from $19.997 billion in the 12 months to May 2022 to $19.065 billion in the 12 months to May 2023.

However the decline has been made up for by non-residential building consents, which remain relatively robust.

In the 12 months to May this year $9.867 billion of non-residential building work was consented, up from $8.94 billion (+10.4%) compared to the previous 12 months.

That meant the total value of all building work consented (residential and non-residential) in the year to May 2023 was almost unchanged at $31.449 billion, compared to $31.409 billion in the year to May 2022.

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11 Comments

by nktokyo | 3rd Jul 23, 12:42pm 1688344978

That's a good couple of billion in building activity less.

by Pragmatist | 3rd Jul 23, 1:07pm 1688346432

Now adjust for building cost inflation, and figure out what that means for employment levels in the industry.

by malamah | 3rd Jul 23, 1:16pm 1688346961

I'm not in the know re construction fallout following GFC, but the exodus of builders 2 - 4 years following the major downturn, was that related? I imagine our net migration stats wouldn't give us telling info for another 12 to 16 months. By then we could be deep in the red.

by Advisor | 3rd Jul 23, 1:24pm 1688347494

Compared with the year ended May 2022, the changes in May 2023 were:

Townhouses, flats, and units were down 3.2 percent at 19,032
Standalone houses down 24 percent at 18,734
Apartments up 3.1 percent at 4,164
Retirement units up 16 percent at 3,229

Good thing denser housing is still in vogue and standalone developments are taking a hit.

by HughJorgan | 3rd Jul 23, 3:01pm 1688353300

Standalone houses are what your typical builder builds.

Unless it gets cheaper to build it is going to hurt!

by Nzdan | 4th Jul 23, 7:42am 1688413339

I have it on good authority that there's no way it can get cheaper to build. There are a swathe of cost externalities that are not driven by interest rates setting a solid price floor on what it costs to build new.

Everything, from council fees to builders, GIB, framing timber, land etc everything that goes into a house is just more expensive for cost's sake. Nobody has increased their profit margin off the back of 10 years of increased borrowing power. You'd still be talking $1m to build a basic new house, even if interest rates stayed at 8% since the GFC. /sarc.

by Pragmatist | 3rd Jul 23, 4:24pm 1688358285

Mmm, retirement unit and shoebox apartments. Kwality living everyone!

by smudge1 | 4th Jul 23, 11:17am 1688426247

Yeah, Aotearoa looking more and more like a ghetto

by JamesM | 3rd Jul 23, 4:26pm 1688358407

I note the CEO of Universal Homes on linkedin today saying these figures were inflated as many people applied for consent before "draconian H1 changes came into effect in May".

He is predicting "the data pre-election will show a consent drop like never before".

by Esprit | 3rd Jul 23, 5:36pm 1688362586

Yowch! That's gonna hurt.

by ChrisOfNoFame | 4th Jul 23, 10:03am 1688421833

One wonders how many of those consents will actually start in the next 12 months ...